Tiernan locked it with a flick of his wrist, then leaned against the paneled door and glowered at me with his arms crossed. The diamonds at his cuffs winked cruelly at me.
“That was rude,” I pointed out, casually moving to the other end of the room from him as if I were interested in the gossamer curtains and not interested in getting as far away from his dangerous magnetism as I possibly could.
He didn’t reply.
In fact, he was utterly silent and still as I moved from one window to another, fingering the expensive curtains, peering out the old, rippled glass to the stark autumn grounds below. A crow sat on one pointed end of the iron fence around the property, his beady eyes following me from pane to pane.
Even he wasn’t as disconcerting as the animal in the room with me.
Finally, I turned to face him, crossing my own arms over my breasts and affecting the same lean as he did but against the vanity.
“Can I help you?” I snapped, irritated and tired and beneath it all so sad I didn’t even think a good cry would release the sorrow in my bones.
“I was just thinking exactly that,” he finally said, raising his right thumb to rub it across his plush lower lip in that way he had that made my mouth go dry and other, secret, parts of me go wet. “Unfortunately, I doubt you have the ability to live up to my expectations, let alone exceed them.”
“Good thing I don’t give a crap about your expectations,” I said with a pretty grin. “Everything I do, I do for my brother. Whatever is left? That’s for me and me alone.”
His smile was quick as a lightning strike and just as terrifying up close. “Oh, little thing, that is where you are entirely wrong.”
I glared at him, my heart beating like a death march in my throat. “You might be used to pushing people around because they’re scared of you. Because you’re mean and ugly inside and out but rich enough to get away with bad behavior. But I’m not one of your underlings and I’m not cowed by your wealth.”
A long, sinuous hum rose from his throat as he considered me, head cocked and eyes narrowed like a predator trying to decide how best to approach his prey. After a moment, he pushed off the door and stalked slowly toward me. Each step matched that death-march pulse thrumming in my neck.
I tried not to move, not to flinch or blink. It would be far worse to show weakness in front of a man like him. I felt sure he would enjoy it.
I felt sure I would too if I allowed myself to give in to the warmth pooling slowly between my legs. To be studied so intently, to be stalked with single-minded focus was oddly and powerfully sexual.
Finally, he reached me, the toes of his shiny Italian loafers pressed to my bare, chipped-polish toes. That pale green gaze like a serpent was locked on me, pinning me in place even though the primitive urge to flee from him lurched through my limbs.
“You misunderstand the nature of my guardianship over you,” he said, his voice soft and quiet, a direct contrast to the cruel tip of his scarred mouth and the hard words they formed. “I am not interested in coddling you, or tucking you in at night and wishing you sweet dreams. In fact, I am not interested in you at all beyond what you can do for me.” His fingers reached out to run lightly down my cheek before they grasped my chin in a powerful grip. “I am going to put considerable time and money into transforming you from this boring little thing into a woman worthy of the McTiernan household. I am going to send you to the best school, give you the best clothes, and teach you to be a lady and not this pathetic little girl. I am going to make your wildest dreams come true, Bianca. And in return? You are going to obey my rules.”
“What rules?” I whispered, embarrassed by my husky tone.
He was too close, that palpable power and ruthless energy emanating off his body like heat waves, buffeting me again and again until I felt light-headed. When I swayed slightly toward him, the hand tattooed with the rose clamped hard over my hip to steady me.
The bite of pain shouldn’t have sent tingles down my spine straight to my sex, but it did.
It did and I almost hissed with the pleasure of it.
“Oh, they’re simple even for a little girl like you to follow,” he promised, his eyes cold enough to burn my skin while his hands on my flesh felt like fire. “One. You do everything I say as soon as I say it without hesitation or attitude.”
I snorted, then winced as the fingers on my chin flexed tighter. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I think your name has confused you. You are not a lord and I am not your vassal.”
He bent closer until I could count every one of those thick black lashes, see the darker emerald ring of green around the pale irises. I held my breath, from fear or to block the assault of his sinful scent on my senses, I wasn’t entirely sure.
“For all intents and purposes, I own you. So, if I tell you to make me breakfast, you do it. If I command you to wear a certain dress to a specific ball, you do it.” His voice dropped deeper, a vibration I felt conducted through his hands on my body straight into my bloodstream. “If I order you to your knees, Bianca? You get on your knees, and you do it with a gracious smile.”
“You’re a fucking monster,” I hissed. “A perverted, fucked-up monster. If you’re hoping taking in two orphans will do something for your image, think again. There’s no hiding what you are, Tiernan. Not your thousand-dollar suits or your plastic smiles. Not even Brando and me.” I rolled to my tiptoes and snarled the next words. “You’re an unlovable man with a hollow heart.”
He ignored my outburst entirely, but for a tiny muscle that pulsed in the square-cut edge of his strong jaw. “Two.” The word landed like a whip strike, making me jump slightly in his hold. “You do not touch anything in this house outside of Brandon’s room or your own. This is a house, not a home, and you’d do well not to get too comfortable here. There are secrets in the walls and monsters in the attic that eat little girls like you for breakfast.”
“Brando’s seven, I can’t tell him not to be curious,” I argued. “Please, be reasonable.”
“I’ll be reasonable when you show me that you can follow the rules,” he promised. “In fact, why don’t we start right now?”
My heart stopped, snagged in his dangerous web, and then began to thrash.
“Give me your locket,” he ordered, already moving his hand from my chin to the silver chain.
I jerked away, but there was nowhere to go. Pressed up against the vanity by his great hulking body, I was effectively trapped. My hand darted to his wrist, fingers pressing deeply into his skin as I tried to wrench his grip loose.
“No,” I gritted between my clenched teeth as I struggled to stop him from taking the only material possession that was dear to me. “NO!”
He ignored me.
My nails tore through his skin, leaving bleeding welts in his hand and wrist the way the rose had once done to me.
Still, he pulled inexorably on the locket until with one tiny clink that sounded like a gunshot to my ears, the silver chain broke apart in his hands and came clean away from my neck.
When I lunged for it, he held it aloft, dangling easily out of my reach even when I jumped for it. I made another grab for it, but Tiernan’s free hand lashed out to grab my ponytail, yanking it back to keep me away.
Only when I was pinned, struggling helplessly, crying even though I hated myself for showing him how much the locket meant to me, did Tiernan lean close enough for his lips to whisper against my cheek.